Lively Cricket in Kanto & Kansai

As The KCL 2008 started with a bang, literally, when in the first match, Al Karam’s Chula Rodrigo banged a short one in, which, the Toyama captain,
Rizwan Mohammed, tried pull but only succeeded in not connecting it and ended up in the hospital with a broken nose. The match was eventually won
by Al Karam. Toyama CC: 146 (30 overs) (Amjad Mirza, 3/15) Al Karam CC: 146/2 (15.1 overs) (Hanif Mohammad, 80*; Javed Niazi, 32*). In other
matches so far, new comers Indian Tigers nearly pulled off a coup in their first match when they had the YC&AC at 92/5 at one stage. A couple of
lives granted to the YC&AC batsmen at that stage helped them post a formidable 257/8. The Tigers, however, could only manage 157 in their chase.
In the third match, the Indian Engineers defeated Shizuoka Kytes by 3 wickets.

In Kansai, the Kansai Cup kicked off as well with various matches being played in the month of April. Watch this space for more updates.

The Fine Print

Nearly half of the Australian cricketers contracted with their board are willing to give up their international careers for playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) or its rival Indian Cricket League (ICL), a survey conducted by the country’s Players’ Association has revealed.
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A study by the St Andrews University in Britain has revealed that successful Test cricketers have an average life expectancy of 80 years – they are happier because of the acclaim they have received and are therefore less likely to suffer from illness even in old age. The researchers at the university came to the conclusion after looking at 418 cricketers who had played for England between 1876, when the first Test match was played, and 1963. The average life expectancy for those who played more than 25 Tests was 77.95, compared with 73.25 years for the others, found the study which considered players’ social backgrounds, that influences how long people live
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The troubled Olympic torch relay run in India suffered yet another jolt with Sachin Tendulkar pulling out of the event a day before the event on medical grounds. The master batsman has been advised by his IPL team physio A Ijaz not to take part in the run in view of his groin injury, sources close to Mumbai Indians team said.
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Federation of International Cricketers’ Association (FICA) has warned that the ICC may be faced with the biggest players’ revolt in the history of the game if it continues to be “paralysed” by the BCCI and remains “incompetent” in its handling of issues facing the sport. FICA’s international legal adviser Ian Smith said the resentment among the players against the ICC’s handling of affairs is so strong that they are ready to break ranks and run the show themselves
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Security officials posted at the Multan stadium for the fourth ODI between Pakistan and Bangladesh evicted a man trying to enter the host team’s dressing room posing as senior batsman Mohammad Yousuf. Mohammad Shafiq, who has a striking resemblance of Yousuf also styled himself on the batsman with the same flowing beard and cap.
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The Vijay Mallya-owned Bangalore Royal Challengers of the IPL have employed Pompom-wielding cheerleaders from the United States. They roped in “Washington Redskins Cheerleaders” to be its official cheerleaders for the first four matches of the tournament. According to the Redskins’ website, 12 of their cheerleaders and two choreographers will spend 18 days touring the country and performing at major events, including the first four games of the Bangalore IPL team.
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The taxman is knocking on the BCCI’s door on IPL windfall they earn under “business auxiliary service(BAS)”. Under the franchise model, the franchisees have to pay 10 per cent of the bid amount every year to BCCI, as a franchisee fee. With the auction fetching BCCI $723.59 million, BCCI will get $72.36 million each year. Since players, too, are not playing for the country, their purchase fees would be liable to service tax again under BAS. Broadcasting rights for 10 years went for over $1 billion in addition to their sale of time slots for ads. Naming Pepsi as the IPL official drink for five years went for a fee of $12.5 million in addition to the branding of stumps in DLF name. So the taxman is also laughing on his way to the bank.
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Source: Various web and print media.

Indian Engineers C.C on Wikipedia

We recently found out that this Newsletter(issue #43) was cited as external resource in wikipedia for the definition of kilikit.

For a detailed information on kilikit, a Samoan national cricket festival, read our Issue# 43.

Chiang Mai Sixes

Ian Gason Reports:

The 21st Chiang Mai Sixes was held recently and again the Tokyo Wombats made the tour- all in the name of promoting Japanese cricket, of course.
Japan’s World Cricket League participation (Jersey, May/June) cost them 2 players, so re-inforcements were called in: Robin, from Somerset via
Chiang Mai, and Sri Lankan Test player Ravindra Pushpakamara. “Pushy” provided some big hitting and one memorable moment when a hard night saw him
walking a single, only to be run out when a Thai lad’s return from cow-corner rolled into the stumps! Pushy’s heavyweight support was matched by
internationals such as Trevor Chappell, Amal Silva and a few ex-Bangladeshi players too, and Tokyo early losses saw them qualify for the Bowl, 3rd
of 4 divisions.

Running around Chiang Mai’s many bars in traditional Japanese yukatas, and other nocturnal activities which hark to an era before dietitians and
conditioning coaches, left the Tokyo Wombats in less the prime condition. Despite the 8am start, TW won their semi-final on the last ball and took
on Amal Silva’s Silva Stars in the final. A late flurry of runs saw TW post 82, a challenging score. Sadly, for the 2nd time in a row, TW stumbled
on the final hurdle, after an errant opening over handed Silva Stars 42 runs!

The loss hardly dented the memories of another fantastic week in Thailand. Chiang Mai Sixes is one of many 6s in Asia, all working on the theme of
making friends through playing cricket. Thanks to the organisers and sponsors, and we will see you all next year!

Three Japanese Umpires on the ICC EAP Umpiring Panel

The ICC EAP office has reconstituted the EAP Umpires Panel and Supplementary Umpires Panel recently, the first revision since it was first formed in 2005. The Umpires Panel includes two of Japan’s most experienced and widely respected umpires, Neil Harrison and Anton McCloy. While McCloy was part of the Umpires Panel since its inception, for Harrison this a promotion from the Supplementary Panel. The Supplementary Umpires Panel included Japan’s Chris Thurgate for the first time.

While there are no EAP tournaments scheduled for 2008, both the panel members will be considered for other tournaments including ICC World Cricket League events and domestic competitions in Australia and New Zealand. The ICC Associate & Affiliate International Umpires Panel was established in 2005 and umpires on this panel officiate in ODIs involving Associate members, Intercontinental Cup matches and other ICC events such as the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup. Brian Aldridge of New Zealand and New Zealand Cricket provides a lot of resources to assist the development of panel
members with the delivery of Introduction and Level 1 Umpiring Courses.

Indian Engineers’ Japan Cricket Rating – New results

Results as of April 30:

There were a few changes in the ranking last month based on the few friendly matches played in March.

Here is the list of the top 10 teams(last month’s ranking in brackets):

Best of the Web

Snippets of the Month

Note: Beginning the Issue #39 (May 6, ’04), we bring you some interesting snippets from the cricket world, to celebrate the fourth anniversary this Newsletter and first anniversary of our popular “Trivial Facts” series. The same will be published on the front page of our website too.

“It was a shake hand at the wrong place” – Sreeshant about the alleged slap by Harbhajan Singh.

Trivial facts (from our Archives)

1. In ODIs, Pakistan’s Saeed Anwar holds the record for hundreds in successive innings(4). In Tests, Sanath Jayasuriya and Brian Lara share the
record with 3 hundreds in 3 innings.

2. In Tests, Don Bradman scored back-to-back hundreds on as many as nine consecutive Tests – easily the best effort by any batsman so far.